Dark Angels - Ravenwing Knights

So to treat myself for finishing the Ravenwing I surprisingly did not jump back onto the nids. Instead I made up the rest of the Ravenwing Command Squad/Knights and some mates.

I even magnetised the Standard bearer, mainly for ease of transport but I suppose I could swap another arm in for options.

Here's what I made with my ebay bike. It needed some serious shaving in the seat to make the Knight sit comfortably.

I also needed a fair few Purity Seals on the frotn wheel arch to tidy it up. Also I had to put a small plastic disc sliced from sprue into a gap in the exhaust on both sides, you can just see the different coloured plastic where it fit.

This is a Knight made from Dark Vengeance bikers and Plasma Pistols. These are Space Wolves varieties, those are supposed to be wolves on top but look more like lions to me

I went with the Power Maul, just so I'd have more of the picks for future conversions. The top of the Plasma Pistols where they join where the Bolters where, is a bit ugly but we'll see when it's painted.

The Plasma Pistols work really well and are pretty much the exact same size as the Knights Talons.

With options like this for Ravenwing it;s an amazing opportunity for a cheap army I think.

Dark Angels - To Date!

I've had a number of requests in the past to see the entire Ferron Expeditionary Force. As I'd just completed the Ravenwing it only seemed to make sense to throw everything on the table and see what I've actually achieved.

The Bastion isn't complete but hopefully I can get it and it;s twin done before Armies on Parade this year and I'll have quite an impressive looking display of my army.

And who knows what else will be done by then. Fingers crossed I can get the Dark Talon and Knight completed too, although I think it's be pretty disastrous if I hadn't completed at least one of those by September/October.

Ironically I think it's the bikes that are truly stealing the lime-light here.

They really work as my vanguard, I just hope they begin to pay dividends on the battlefield, although they've been pretty good when they weren't even painted!

The Deathwing also look pretty nifty.

Just take a close up look at the front cowl on the bike, the effect is really quite special. For all the challenges and worries this makes it all worth it. Check out the glow effect inside the Plasma Gun too, purely accidental.

Obligatory phone pics.

Now potentially this may be more than 1850pts, which was one of my To Do List goals. What will need to be considered come the end of the Hobby Season is whether 1850pts is the goal or sufficient figures to make an 'effective' list. 

I think so long as I don't rest on my laurels and continue to add Dark Angels so I have options then I may well have met that target, what do you think?

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the pics.

Dark Angels - Double Trouble army

Whilst I was taking my To Done! pics of the Ravenwing bikes I set up my Armies on Parade board to take my Double Trouble army showcase pics. Unfortunately I forgot to add the Techmarine as my HQ but nevermind.

 Not a lot to say really, its probably completely sub-optimal but its what I got and the old skool Rhino and Assault marines fits Luke's request to use old miniatures.

Bikes looking tasty amongst the rest of the squad. I can;t wait to have more bikes, I'm loving the Ravenwing now.

One question: do you think I should keep the Assault marines with green bases or re-paint the 'grass' as yellow to further fit my Ferron theme, Luke what do you think?

Looking forward to using them in a few weeks.

Dark Angels - Ravenwing bike squad - To Done!

Finally got these done, I may have gone over the top a little bit on the weathering powder on the tyres but I can live with it.

Obviously the OSl on the headlamps is still a little too opaque but the gloss highlight certainly gives the impression this is from a light source and not something else.

I have to admit thought that my idea of these guys a brooding unit of shadowy black hunters has been thrown out the window with all the extra colours, trimmings, badges, litanies, patina and effects. It's a positive cacophony of colours.

But I'm actually really impressed with the end result, my first true Ravenwing bikes.

Here's one of the units of three.

Though stupidly I got them mixed up and you've got two with Company badges of '2' and the last as Roman numeral 'II'

The screens came out OK, especially as I switched to Tamiya Clear Orange X-26, instead of Tamiya Clear Red X-27. The orange added richness to the red already present and made the white 'targets' orange so there was variety in the display.

Surprisingly the '2s' were far easier to paint than the roman numerals. I'll have no fear of doing these in the future, expect more curly gothic numbers!

Here's where the weathering powder looks a little OTT.

Phone pics

Big green stamp of approval to me, thanks for your patience with it all this time! Some more gallery pics coming soon.